Shinigamigakure
by Darkdawnomega
Summary: At the Valley of the End, Sasuke managed to kill Naruto with his Chidori, and obtain the Mangekyo Sharingan. However, someone from Naruto's past returned and took Naruto's body away, to shake Konoha and the Elemental Nations for years to come.
1. Beginning of the End

Chapter 1

_The Beginning of the End_

Two large stone statues…

A huge waterfall…

Two young boys, both giving off immense and inhuman chakra…

Neither moved, waiting for the other to initiate what would be the final attack for each of them.

_I'm not gonna run away, I never go back on my word!_

_How on earth could you possibly understand?_

"Now is no longer the time for words, Naruto. Let's finish this! With one last shot!" Sasuke shouted, the chakra from his cursed seal flaring.

"I won't lose to you, Sasuke! I have to bring you home!" With a red chakra tail swishing behind him, Naruto held out his right hand, the Kyuubi's chakra mixing with his own, forming a Rasengan. At the same time, Sasuke held out his right hand, letting a black Chidori form. Using his hand-like wings, Sasuke propelled himself into the air, Naruto using the Kyuubi's chakra to go towards Sasuke.

"Naruto!"

"Sasuke!"

The two attacks collided, surrounding the two shinobi. From the inside, Naruto knew he had a dilemma.

_I have to take down Sasuke. I don't want to hurt him too badly though. I need to move my Rasengan so it just disables him, but if I do it'll give him a kill shot… I'll trust my brother._

In the next moments, Naruto did something he would forever regret. Pushing his Rasengan to the side, he hit Sasuke on the left side of his torso. It would knock out Sasuke and be a nonfatal hit. However, Sasuke took the opportunity presented to him, sliding the Chidori through his first Chidori's target.

Naruto's heart.

As the light faded from the collision of the two attacks, it wasn't clear what had occurred. Sasuke was at the edge of the river, unable to stay standing. He collapsed to his knees, coughing up a bit of blood. He looked around, trying to find Naruto. The only thing he could see was a cloud of red forming in the river.

"I… I did it! Naruto is dead! That Chidori through the heart had to have killed him!" Sasuke shouted, grinning wildly, his Cursed Seal receding and his new Mangekyo Sharingan spinning wildly.

From the shadows, a shinobi had watched the two friends fight, and when he saw the light clear from the final attack, he decided to finally take action. Vanishing from his hiding place, he appeared behind Sasuke, and with a chop to the back of the neck, knocked the Uchiha out. Looking over at the water, he let out a sigh.

"Time to get Naruto, it seems."

_Naruto sat at Ichiraku Ramen, devouring a bowl of miso ramen. Jiraiya had given him the day off, since tomorrow was the Chunin Exam Finals. Almost done his third bowl, someone else sat down next to him, in a white hooded cloak._

"_Three miso ramens please!" The man asked fairly loudly, smiling as he waited for his food. He glanced over at Naruto, giving off a small smile. _

"_Hey there kid. Like ramen?" The man asked, looking over at the stack of bowls, now three bowls high as Naruto ordered another._

"_Yeah! And it sounds like you do too!" Naruto said, giving a famous grin. Both people were given their ramen at the same time, with a smile from the chef. _

"_So, Naruto Uzumaki. Genin of Konohagakure, and participant of the upcoming Chunin Exam Finals. Not too shabby." The man mentioned as he ate his first bowl._

"_Ah, heard of me? You forget one thing though, future Godaime!" Naruto grinned._

"_You want to be Hokage? I guess that's one thing your Tou-san and Kaa-san passed down to you, eh?"_

_After that sentence, anyone nearby could have heard a pin drop, because everything went dead silent. The only thing anyone heard for moments after that was a crash of a ramen bowl, which Naruto dropped as he processed what he just heard. Turning to the man, he glared, as if he was trying to mentally remove the person's hood._

"_You know who my Kaa-san and Tou-san are?" Naruto asked, sounding deadly serious._

"_Of course. They're both shinobi in my village, Shinigamigakure no Sato." The man responded._

"_Shinigamigakure…? I've never heard of it. And, your village?" Naruto asked._

"_Yup. I'm the Shodaime Zetsumeikage." The hooded man said, getting surprised looks from Naruto and the ramen chefs alike. "And I have to say, I'm fairly interested in you, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze." _

"_Namikaze…? My last name is Uzumaki." Naruto pointed out._

"_Yes, but seeing as your Tou-san is Minato Namikaze…" The man mentioned, keeping another surprised look. Naruto didn't know how to respond to this man. He knew he looked a lot like the Yondaime, but his son…? _

"_If you wish to meet your parents Naruto, you only need to do one thing. When you're near death, put a slash through your forehead protector. That's all. Until then, Naruto." The man said, seeming to just fade out of existence. Afterwards, Naruto didn't move from his spot for over an hour, until Teuchi and Ayame managed to get his attention._

As Naruto felt himself floating down into the water, he reached up, grabbing his forehead protector with the last of his strength. He could feel Kyuubi pumping huge amounts of chakra into his wound, but knew he would die. Grabbing a kunai from his pack, he made a slash through the Konoha symbol, feeling his grip on both the kunai and forehead protector fail. Darkness began to close in from around his sight, and Naruto resigned himself to death.

All of a sudden, Naruto felt a jerk from his right arm, and was pulled up. His eyes opened a sliver, and he could see a face looking at him from a white hood.

"_Yondaime…_" Naruto murmured, slipping into death's embrace.

Kakashi Hatake felt himself rushing faster and faster. He could no longer feel Kyuubi's chakra or the Cursed Seal's chakra. That wasn't what worried him though. He could feel Sasuke Uchiha's chakra, just barely.

But he felt nothing from Naruto.

_Please be alright Naruto…_

When Kakashi appeared on the scene, he was mystified by what he saw. Sasuke Uchiha was on the ground, breathing but injured slightly. There was a white-cloaked man standing, and he could read the back of the cloak. Shodaime Zetsumeikage. He'd never heard of it, but his attention wasn't on that.

Naruto Uzumaki.

The blond-haired, blue-eyed boy was on the ground, and was the center of the cloaked man's attention. Kakashi was just focused on the hole in Naruto's chest. His pale skin. His no longer rising chest. And Kakashi knew that he was too late.

"_**NARUTO!**__" _

Kakashi turned his head to the cloaked man, who leant over his student, doing a few handsigns.

"Tiger-Snake-Rat-Ox-Dog-Ram-Tiger-Snake-Dog-Dragon-Ram! Space-Time Sealing Technique: Death God Rebirth!" The man shouted, and Naruto's body was encompassed by a black void in seconds. The void seemed to retract, and Naruto was gone. Kakashi rushed over, his hand glowing.

"You bastard! **Raikiri!**" Kakashi thrust his hand forward, but as soon as the attack should have hit, the man was gone. Kakashi looked around, and found the man standing over Sasuke Uchiha, his hand over the Cursed Seal.

"I really should just kill this prick for killing my son, but I'll instead do something else. Sealing Technique: Cursed Seal Overwrite!"The man's hand glowed with green chakra for a moment, and if someone watched, the Cursed Seal would have been seen to be twisting and turning until taking the form of the Uzumaki seal. "There… with the side-effect of sealing off the Mangekyo. Not too shabby." The man murmured, nodding. Kakashi just stood there, glaring at the man.

"You take the body of my dead student and seal away my other student's eyes?" Kakashi shouted.

"Maa maa Kakashi, I just sealed away the Mangekyo, not the normal Sharingan. And I believe as Naruto's father, I have more right to his body than Konoha does." Suddenly, the man vanished in a yellow flash, appearing behind Kakashi.

"M-minato sensei?" Kakashi murmured, before he heard something.

"Sealing Technique: Selective Memory Repression."

That was the last thing Kakashi heard before he blacked out.

When Kakashi came too, he felt a throbbing pain in his head, and stodd up, looking around. He saw Sasuke on the ground, and rushed over. "Sasuke! What happened?" Kakashi asked hurriedly, not having seen Naruto anywhere.

"Hehehe… finally got him…" Sasuke murmured, clenching his bloody hand. Kakashi heard a squelching sound from Sasuke's hand and reaching down, opening his hand. What he found was ¾ of a heart and a necklace that he well-recognized.

"No…"

"So, what do you think is gonna happen?" Kotetsu asked his partner, Izumo.

"I'm not sure. I half-expect Uzumaki to walk through the gate with the Uchiha on his shoulder, and a big grin on Naruto's face." Izumo snickered, just imagining Sasuke's fangirls reactions.

"Meh, I don't really- Wait!" Kotetsu gasped, seeing something.

Kakashi Hatake was walking back to the gate, with Sasuke Uchiha on his shoulder, tied up in half a dozen different ways. The only other thing they could see was an opaque bag in Kakashi's free hand, and a solemn look on the Jounin's visible face. Izumo and Kotetsu both knew that they should just let Kakashi by.

Kakashi went to the Hokage Tower, ignoring the receptionist and going straight to Tsunade. Opening the door, he saw Sakura there, talking to Shizune as Tsunade drank some sake.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto kept his promise!" Sakura squealed, seeing the Uchiha.

"Kakashi, I take it the mission was a success?" Tsunade asked, but having another question on her mind.

"…Hai, Hokage-sama." Kakashi sighed, looking away as a tear slipped from his free eye. Everyone in the room noticed it.

"Kakashi…" Tsunade murmured.

"Kakashi-sensei… where's Naruto?" Sakura asked, half-worried.

Kakashi walked up to Tsunade, and placed the bag he was holding on her desk. "Those were in Sasuke's hand when I found him."

Tsunade opened up the bag without hesitation, but when she saw inside, she felt her heart skip a beat, and tears began to pour out.

Sakura took a few cautious steps over and held the bag, looking inside of it. Dropping the bag, her face turned green, and she ran over to the trash can, her breakfast leaving her. All four conscious people in the room had the same thought.

_Please, not Naruto…_

Well, I hoped you liked the first chapter! This is my first time writing a story like this, and my first time writing anything for FF. Now, I'm not a Naruto super-fan, but I feel like I know enough to make a somewhat close fanfiction. But yeah! I have something of an idea what I'm gonna write about, and I probably won't abandon this story.

Please read and review! And if you do review, tell me if you'd rather Chapter 2 be about Konoha's reaction or what happened to Naruto. I want to have a lot of viewer input for this.

But yeah. New writer, I know I suck, you don't need to tell me. Just constructive criticism please. Thanks!

~Darkdawn


	2. Bringing the Light to Day

Woah geez! As of the time I started writing Chapter Two, Chapter 1 had 165 views and got 4 reviews! Honestly, I'm surprised. I didn't expect that in just 10-11 hours.

But yeah! Onto Chapter 2!

_Bringing the Light to Day_

_Chapter 2_

A large group of shadows dashed from rooftop to rooftop in Konohagakure (Village Hidden in the Leaves), making its way to Hokage Tower. As the shadow neared the tower, it revealed the faces of the group.

"What do you think was so urgent that the Hokage called all of the Rookie Twelve to the tower, Shikamaru?" Choji Akimichi asked, voicing the question on everyone's mind.

"I don't know, Choji. But I do know that I haven't seen Naruto or Sasuke since the Retrieval Mission. I heard they were both in the hospital, but I think it's something about those two." Shikamaru Nara responded, a bit confused. He looked back at the group behind him. Hinata Hyuuga, Ino Yamanaka, Rock Lee, Tenten and Shino Aburame, along with himself and Choji.

"Out of the twelve of our group, we're missing Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, Kiba, and Sakura. Neji and Kiba are still in the hospital. Apparently so are Naruto and Sasuke. So where is Sakura?" Shikamaru asked.

"I haven't seen her since you all got back from the mission. She was going to the hospital to see Sasuke-kun." Ino mentioned.

"I have a feeling that something most unyouthful has happened, my friends!" Lee shouted, a look of worry on his face.

"I must agree. Something is going on that we cannot fully comprehend…" Shino murmured. Moments later, the group arrived at the Hokage Tower, and entered.

Going up to the Hokage's office, they all entered. Already there were Sakura Haruno, a bound Sasuke Uchiha, a bandaged Neji Hyuuga and Kiba Inuzuka, Kakashi Hatake, Asuma Sarutobi, Maito Gai, Kurenai Yuhi, Shizune and Tsunade. Already, the group was worried.

"What's going on here?" Choji asked. "Why is everyone here except Naruto?" Choji noted, having looked around the room. He heard a choked sob, and the attention turned to Sakura, who had tears pouring down her face, when moments ago she had been completely composed.

Shikamaru already put together the dots in his head, and looked straight at Tsunade.

"Naruto is dead, isn't he?" Shikamaru asked, dreading the answer. If he was right, his inexperienced leadership skills cost him one of his best friends.

"Yes." Tsunade only had to say one word, and the world seemed to come crashing down around everyone in the room. Tears came to many from the group, while Hinata completely lost it and collapsed in a stream of sobs, unable to stand the truth of the situation. Neji walked over to her, comforting his cousin.

"I… have something to tell all of you. Well, two somethings actually… Naruto's burden and his family." Tsunade said, beginning her speech.

All of the villagers were wondering what was going on. The Hokage, and a bunch of Genin and their Jounin sensei's were standing on a large wooden platform in the middle of the village. Obviously, something was about to go down.

Tsunade walked forward, looking both the saddest and the most serious that the villagers had ever seen her.

"I come here today to give the village a report of a recent mission." Tsunade spoke loudly, to get the attention of everyone in the crowd.

"Sasuke Uchiha, two days ago, fled the village and attempted to join Otogakure (Village Hidden in the Sound) and Orochimaru, a fellow Sannin. I sent out a group of Genin, led by Chunin Shikamaru Nara, to retrieve the Uchiha."

"Did they succeed?"

"Were there any casualties?"

"Is the Uchiha unharmed?"

"**QUIET!**" Tsunade shouted, silencing the villagers. "Neji Hyuuga and Choji Akimichi were both wounded grievously, but survived encounters with members of Orochimaru's Sound Five group. Naruto Uzumaki was sent on alone to recapture the Uchiha." This last bit caught everyone's attention, and some grinned with glee as they noticed that Uzumaki wasn't up there.

"Sasuke Uchiha, before being knocked unconscious, used a technique called the Chidori (One Thousand Birds) to rip out a chunk of Naruto Uzumaki's heart and killed him." Tsunade said. There was silence for a few moments, before a good portion of the villagers began to cheer Sasuke's name. Maybe a third of the villagers looked sad at the news.

"**HOW DARE YOU!**" Tsunade screamed, completely enraged. "You dare _**celebrate**_ the death of a Konoha ninja?"

"The demon child is dead though!"

"Yeah, the Kyuubi is finally gone!"

"You idiots!" The Hokage shouted, glaring at the cheering villagers. "Naruto was the only thing keeping the Kyuubi away! With the Kyuubi locked inside of him, he was the only thing keeping it from coming back and killing us all! Don't you idiots get it! Because he's dead, the Kyuubi may very well return and finish what it started!" Tsunade exclaimed.

The villagers went dead quiet at this.

"But that's not all I'm here to tell you. I'm here to break an SS-class law." Tsunade murmured. This surprised everyone. SS-class laws were laws that were complete secrets, which only the Hokages were allowed to even know about! "It's about Naruto Uzumaki's parents. He was the son of Kushina Uzumaki, the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero, and… Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage (Fourth Fire Shadow)."

At this point, the crowd went pale. They had been cheering for the death of their greatest Hokage, and the only person keeping them all safe from Kyuubi's wrath?

"Maa maa, what's the problem? You all look like someone died!" A voice shouted from behind the crowd. Everyone turned to look, and saw a person in a black cloak walking towards the crowd of villagers. The person removed the cloak, and stunned everyone.

The person looked like Naruto Uzumaki. The person had the same face, the whisker marks, the somewhat starved look, but he had blood red hair that was twice as long as Naruto's, red slitted eyes, and nine blood red tails swishing behind his back. Along with a hole in his chest visible from his uncovered torso, right where his heart should have been.

"Oh, right. My prison died. Kinda sucks for all of you, eh? The _**Kyuubi no Kitsune**_ (Nine-tailed Fox) is back in town!" He cackled, with an insane look on his face.

All of the ninjas in the crowd, along with the group on the platform and all the ANBU, got into taijutsu stances, ready to fight for the village.

"You all are lucky then. I just want…" Kyuubi looked around, and when his eyes settled, pointed straight at Sasuke. "The Uchiha. And to deliver a message. If you let me do my job, I can leave without a fight. Otherwise… no promises." Kyuubi grinned, making everyone's eyes go wide. "I'll deliver the message first then, since you haven't made a move. It's from the Shodaime Zetsumeikage (First Death Shadow). _One village's trash is another village's treasure._ Now, the Uchiha please." Kyuubi glared, tapping his foot as he waited. Sasuke, looking around at the people who seemed to be debating his fate, was tired of having others decide his fate. Sasuke rushed down to meet the Kyuubi, cracking his knuckles.

"Beat me, and I'll go with you." Sasuke said, his Sharingan swirling.

"Maa maa, fine." The Kyuubi formed an unknown handsign, and Sasuke sputtered, grasping his shoulder and falling to his knees.

"Ngh…! W-what the hell?" Sasuke gasped, lines coming from his shoulder, seeming to swirl around his throat and limbs. As soon as the lines stopped moving, Sasuke collapsed.

"What just happened!" Tsunade shouted.

"Well, my boss manipulated the Uchiha's Cursed Seal into an Uzumaki Cursed Seal, which can cause almost complete paralysis when a handsign is made. My boss did remove the corruption sigil in the seal though, but left the obedience sigil in it. Oh well." Kyuubi murmured, using his tails to grab Sasuke, holding onto him. Suddenly, one of the free tails became needle-like, and slipped right through Sasuke's chest and through his heart.

"**SASUKE-KUN!**" Sakura and Ino shouted, with the ANBU rushing at Kyuubi. The rest of the Rookie Twelve dashed towards the demon fox as well, along with their sensei's and the Hokage. Sasuke began to sputter blood, and the Kyuubi held out a hand.

"Rasengan Shield!"

"Rasengan!" As the vortex began to form around the Kyuubi, someone appeared behind the demon fox, slamming a Rasengan into his back. One of Kyuubi's tails swiped the person away, revealing Jiraiya. Kyuubi turned around, cocking his head.

"Ah, ero-sennin! (Perverted sage) Good to see you too!" The Kyuubi said cheerfully.

"Bastard! Give me back my student! Give me my godson!" Jiraiya shouted, tears streaming from his face.

"Oh, _now_ you want Naruto? Sorry, but he died. The Uchiha killed him and set me free." The Kyuubi shrugged, and Jiraiya stood up, doing handseals. "Sealing Technique: Demon Capture Barrier!" Jiraiya shouted, a purple cage forming around the Kyuubi, forcing the fox-in-human-form to release Sasuke's body. Jiraiya caught Sasuke, throwing him to Tsunade.

"Tsunade-hime, heal him! I'll take care of the demon!" Jiraiya exclaimed.

The Kyuubi looked around at the cage, and cocked his head.

"Really, ero-sennin? You think this fuinjutsu (sealing technique) can hold me? It's a level 7 technique, you'd need at least a dual level 9." Kyuubi mentioned, putting his hand on the barrier. In an instant, it shattered. "Even Naruto could have created a better barrier. I've seen him create a triple level 10 barrier, much better than that display.

Jiraiya gasped in surprise; he had no idea that his student had mastered sealing to such a degree. Jiraiya knew he taught him the basics, learning enough to do three level 10 barriers?

"How did he…?" Jiraiya murmured, and looked at the Kyuubi. "You taught him things, didn't you? You taught him to use your chakra without it corrupting him, you taught him sealing, what else?" Jiraiya asked.

"Everything he needed to survive. And even that wasn't enough." Kyuubi said, getting a solemn look. "Jiraiya-san, he looked up to you in the worst way. Even I have to respect you, it's hard to gain Naruto's respect. But I'm done here." Kyuubi said, and did a single handsign. "Kuchiyose: Rashomon (Summoning: Demon Date)." A large gate appeared behind the Kyuubi, who opened it up.

"Wait!" A shrill voice shouted. Hinata ran over to the Kyuubi, with fear gripping her heart.

"Hinata-chan. The one girl Naruto had respect and adoration for." Kyuubi murmured. "What do you want?" He asked.

Hinata looked down for a moment, and met eyes with the demon, a newfound confidence filling her eyes. "Bring Naruto-kun back whenever you can. I know you can, even if he's dead. I'll become strong, strong enough to help him next time. Strong enough to love him. Tell him that Hinata Hyuuga will be waiting for him back here in Konoha!" Hinata exclaimed, surprising everyone. The Kyuubi simply got an amused look in his eyes. "Alright then, Hinata Hyuuga. I'll do that." He said, before walking through the gate. The Rashomon closed afterwards, and vanished. Everyone seemed to take a breath they didn't know they were holding in, and someone let out a gasp. Heads turned, and looked at Tsunade. She was trying to heal Sasuke Uchiha, but the boy's body seemed to be turning to dust. "Dammit, dammit all!" Tsunade shouted as the last of the Uchiha vanished. Moments later, Kakashi collapsed, lines covering his entire body before vanishing. Jiraiya rushed over to Kakashi, looking him over.

"I think a seal just released on him. Let's get him to the hospital just in case. I think it was a time delay release." Jiraiya said, tears still fresh in his eyes, after seeing the visage of his godson desecrated by the Kyuubi's changes.

Kakashi felt his eyes winking open, and he looked around, groaning. In the room were Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Sakura.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura murmured.

"Gah… my head fucking hurts…" Kakashi murmured, trying to search his memory for the cause. His eyes went wide as he remembered the Valley of the End.

"The person took Naruto's body! The Shodaime Zetsumeikage!" Kakashi shouted, causing eyes to go wide. "But… the Kyuubi? And finding Sasuke…who's dead… damn, this is chaos!" Kakashi shouted, slamming his hand against the bed. Jiraiya went to Kakashi's side, confused.

"Kakashi, you lost us. What happened? You need to fill us in." Kakashi looked around and nodded, beginning to fill everyone in about what he remembered from the seal release.

011001010110111001100100

Well, there's chapter 2~

Hope you liked it! I still have another chapter or two for Konoha, and they will probably be from after the time-skip. Everything I wanted to get in beforehand got into this chapter.

And yes, Sasuke is dead. Sobsob. Naruto and Sasuke are both dead, and Kyuubi is free. But yeah, if anyone is still confused.

Shinigamigakure- The Village Hidden in the God of Death

Zetsumeikage- Death Shadow

That help? Cool. But yeah, please more incentive to write. Views, favorites, reviews, etc. And thank you to CloudRed1988 to really showing interest in the story and giving me a load of inspiration for this chapter!


	3. As Time Passes, People Move On

_Chapter Three_

_As Time Passes, People Move On_

"Hokage-sama, I'd like to request vacation time on behalf of myself, the rest of Team 7, 8, 10, and Team Gai." Kakashi Hatake spoke, looking very tired.

"It's the three-year anniversary, isn't it?" Tsunade asked, taking a swig from her sake. "Since things started going downhill."

After everything had occurred with Sasuke and Naruto, Konoha was no longer the strongest village. They had lost their jinchuuriki and one of their two famous dojutsu kekkei genkais.

Jiraiya hadn't returned to Konoha since Naruto died, and yet Itachi Uchiha had returned soon afterwards, revealing the truth of the Massacre after killing the Village Elders and all of Danzo's ROOT ANBU. Itachi had been reinstated as an ANBU Captain, while Kakashi took on Sai, a former ROOT ANBU, and Konohamaru, into Team 7 with Sakura. All three were Chunins, along with the rest of the Konoha 10 (previously Konoha 12 before Sasuke and Naruto died). However, Neji, Shikamaru, and Hinata had all made Jounin, with Naruto's friend Gaara becoming Kazekage.

Since Kyuubi's return to Konoha, it hadn't been seen since, but a new shinobi village had appeared soon after. The odd thing was, their forehead protector had no symbol on it, just a slash mark. No one knew where the village was, and yet people who voiced interests in hiring their shinobi were simply visited by a messenger from the village to work out details.

"Hinata! Hey! How are you?" Ayame Ichiraku asked, giving the Jounin a bright smile. Hinata smiled back.

"Pretty good Ayame. Me and my Genin Squad just got back from our third C-rank mission. Oh, and could I get an Uzumaki Surprise?" Hinata asked. Ayame nodded, going in the back to make the most expensive ramen on the menu.

Hinata wasn't the only member of the Konoha 10 at Ichiraku's. Both Shino and Lee were there, eating the same thing Hinata ordered. It was something of a routine for everyone in the Konoha 10. Each day, they'd go to Ichiraku's, and order an Uzumaki Surprise, to honor the memory of their friend.

"Hello my most youthful comrade Hinata-chan!" Rock Lee greeted.

"Ah, yes. Hello Lee-kun. And you too, Shino-kun." Hinata murmured, nodding her head. Shino smiled from behind his jacket. "Good to see you back from your mission, Hinata. How are your Genin?" Shino asked, slurping some of his ramen as Hinata's own arrived.

"A handful, as usual." Hinata replied simply. Her mind was on other things.

"_And so that's everything." Kakashi finished, nodding his head. Tsunade was completely pale, and Sakura was holding back tears. What no one expected was to hear a loud thump outside of the room. Shizune walked over to the door and opened it, finding an unconscious Hinata. _

"_I guess she overheard us?" Shizune guessed._

"_Let's find her a bed." Tsunade suggested._

_A few hours later, Hinata came to. She was overwhelmed by what she had heard. "Naruto-kun… who was the man that took you?" Hinata murmured. There was a loud crash outside of her room, but from outside of the hospital. Getting up, she walked over to the window, and gaped. Jiraiya the Sannin was on top of Gamabunta, looking right at Hinata._

"_Hinata Hyuuga? You told the Kyuubi you wanted to get stronger for Naruto. Come with me if you really want to." Jiraiya said, more serious than most had ever seen him._

_Hinata meekly nodded._

Hinata smiled as she reminisced her time with Jiraiya, learning the Rasengan, it's variations that Jiraiya created, Summoning, and even Sage Mode. She knew that the day Naruto returned, she would be strong enough.

"Hinata? Hinaaaaattttaaa?" She heard, and shook her head, seeing Kakashi standing behind her.

"Oh, hello Kakashi-san. How are you?" She asked.

"Pretty good. I've got the Hokage's permission to take the Konoha 10 and their previous sensei's on vacation for the 3 year anniversary." Kakashi said.

"Alright, good to know. When are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow at dawn. Don't be late." Kakashi mentioned with his famous eye-smile.

"Funny for you to be saying that to me." Hinata joked. To contrast Kakashi's constant lateness, Hinata was usually hours early to everything. "But where are we going?" She asked, curious.

"We're going to the Land of Waves. Tazuna recently opened up a resort area with Gato's remaining funds and invited us all down, knowing what time of year it was." Kakashi responded. Konoha wasn't the only place hit by Naruto and Sasuke's deaths. The Land of Waves declared the day Naruto died as a national holiday for remembrance, the same with Sunagakure (Village Hidden in the Sand).

"Alright. Thank you for telling me, Kakashi-san." Hinata nodded, finishing up her ramen. Kakashi took a moment to look at Shino and Lee before using Shunshin (Body Flicker) to leave.

"My friends, it would be most youthful of us to visit the Memorial Stone before we leave tomorrow, do you not agree?" Lee said, breaking the silence.

"True." Shino noted quietly. Hinata just nodded.

Hinata was fairly surprised when she, Lee, and Shino arrived at the Memorial Stone. There was a white-cloaked figure laying flowers at the stone, with the back of the cloak… _Shodaime Zetsumeikage_. Hinata recognized that instantly, and her gaze hardened.

"Hinata? What is the problem?" Shino asked.

"Yes my most youthful companion! What seems to be troubling you?" Lee added.

"Him. He's the one who took Naruto-kun's body." Hinata pointed, glaring. "_Byakugan!_" She murmured. In an instant, she realized she couldn't see the person anymore. "Where-?" She stopped speaking when she felt sharp metal against her throat.

"I'd suggest turning off your Byakugan. I know full-well of its abilities." The person said coldly, forcing Hinata to deactivate her dojutsu.

"And I would suggest leaving the Hyuuga heiress alone." Another, much colder voice responded. A Weasel-masked ANBU appeared from the darkness, and Hinata knew who that was. So did Shino and Lee.

"Itachi-!" Lee gasped, and the cloaked man vanished again, appearing in front of the Memorial Stone.

"If this is how Konoha treats people who are simply respecting the dead, I'd hate to see how they treat visiting civilians." The man spoke, and Itachi's eyes went wide.

"You can't be. I know that voice. You're dead." Itachi said, glaring.

"Ah, so you do remember me, Ita-chan? You were what, 5 years old? Mikoto raised you quite well, although if the Massacre has any say then I'd be wrong." The man said, leaving Shino, Lee, and Hinata confused.

"Itachi-san, do you know who this most unyouthful person is?" Lee asked.

"Ah, Rock Lee. You look just like my old friend Maito Gai. Any relation?" The man asked.

"Ah, yes! Gai-sensei was my Genin-sensei and now is my close friend! However, we are not related by blood." Lee exclaimed, grinning.

Suddenly, Itachi drew his sword, using Shunshin to go behind the man. Bringing his blade forward quickly, he attempted to kill the Zetsumeikage. However, his blade was stopped by another, a katana. A pair of Sharingan eyes glared back at him. At the other side of the Zetsumeikage, another man stood, in the same hooded black cloak as the person stopping Itachi's blade.

"Zetsumeikage-sama, we're sorry for revealing ourselves this early, but it was necessary. I have a feeling that we need to send Itachi-kun here back with a message, that it isn't alright to attack a Kage." The one with the Sharingan said, shoving Itachi away. The moment he did, the man's eyes became a Mangekyo Sharingan that Itachi didn't recognize.

"**Tsukuyomi!**" The man murmured, entrapping Itachi.

0110100101101110

Itachi opened his eyes, seeing a familiar world of red and black. Looking around, he saw nothing but the black cloaked man.

"Alright then Itachi, I assume you know the drill. However, I have quite a punishment for your 72 hours." The man waved his hand, and behind the man, the Uchiha clan stood proud, led by Sasuke Uchiha. The Uchiha clan all brandished kunai and fully matured Sharingans.

"N-no…" Itachi murmured, seeing the bloodlust in the eyes of the fake Sasuke.

011011110111010101110100

Itachi suddenly collapsed to the ground, convulsing horribly. Hinata gasped, rushing to the ANBU's side, while Lee and Shino took up taijutsu positions next to her.

"Unyouthful enemies! Leave or face the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha!" Lee shouted.

"Why, Rock Lee? Your ANBU assaulted our Kage. Your Jounin assaulted him while he was paying respects to his dead son." The previously unspoken cloaked man said, sounding very familiar to Lee.

Hinata, Shino, and Lee were all confused and embarrassed.

"Who on the Memorial Stone is your Kage's son?" Shino suddenly asked, which got chuckles from the three hooded people.

"Check the stone, Shino Aburame. You'll know who." The white cloaked man said, and the black cloaked figures vanished.

"The Zetsumeikage runs Shinigamigakure. Food for thought." The last man said before vanishing.

"…The Village Hidden in the God of Death?" Lee asked, confused. "How could a village be in the Shinigami? Is it a metaphor?"

"Maybe. I am curious however to see who the Zetsumeikage's son is." Shino mentioned, walking over to the stone. He began looking over the stone's names, starting from the most recent names. Quickly, he noticed there was a name scratched out, that he could no longer make out. However, he had no reason to guess. He knew the last active shinobi to die before Sasuke Uchiha.

"Naruto Uzumaki… the son of the Shodaime Zetsumeikage? But Tsunade-sama told us that Naruto was the son of the Yondaime Hokage. And he's dead. What's going on?" Shino asked curiously as ANBU arrived on the scene.

As the Konoha 10 gathered at the main gate of the village, they all noticed how three people were missing. Shino, Lee, and Hinata. Kakashi knew they had been planning on going to the Memorial Stone, but he knew that Hinata was known for being early. Not late.

"Something happened." Kakashi said out loud, getting looks.

"What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Hinata is never late. She wouldn't let herself, nor Lee and Shino, be late for this." Kakashi pointed out.

"Maybe something came up, Kakashi." Shikamaru mentioned. "Just because Hinata has a habit of being early doesn't mean she always will be."

"Sorry we're late! Itachi Uchiha was attacked by a Kage at the Memorial Stone." Hinata said as she, Lee, and Shino appeared. The rest of the group gaped, then looked at Kakashi.

"Really, Kakashi? Teaching her to lie for being late?" Ino scolded.

"I swear, I didn't! Besides, that excuse is worse than my normal ones!" Kakashi said, holding up his hands.

"But it's true. A guard of the Shodaime Zetsumeikage attacked Itachi Uchiha and put him in a coma. Apparently, the coma is similar to that of a Tsukuyomi attack." Shino mentioned, making everyone go pale, but Kakashi the most.

"That bastard… the man who stole Naruto's body… he came to Konoha?" Kakashi shouted, his rage almost palpable. "He had no right!"

"Kakashi-san, may I make note of something?" Lee asked, quieting Kakashi. "When we asked him a few questions, we gathered information that he was visiting the stone to pay respect to his dead son. Upon further inspection, Naruto Uzumaki's name was found to be scratched out of the stone. This led us to the conclusion that he was speaking of Naruto-kun. But that contradicts with previous knowledge that Naruto-kun is Yondaime-sama's son." Lee said, taking a breath.

"What if the Shodaime Zetsumeikage is the Yondaime Hokage?" Shikamaru came from almost nowhere, and got looks of disbelief.

"Shikamaru, you do realize you just said that you think someone who has been dead for 15 years, and has a very well-known chakra signature, waltzed into Konoha without anyone noticing?" Kakashi asked.

"Maybe it was Naruto's Kaa-san? Didn't Tsunade-sama say that her body was never recovered? She may have survived and founded a village, maybe where her old village was." Neji noted, getting tilted heads.

"That actually… isn't a bad theory." Shikamaru said, but Hinata shook her head.

"No, that's not right. One of the guards said 'his dead son', so the person was probably male."

"Well damn, we're back to the drawing board I guess. Let's just go on vacation and think about it after!" Kiba said, getting a bark from Akamaru.

However, as the group spoke, someone walked up to the gates. The person was covered in a black hooded cloak, but had a forehead protector strapped to their waist. However, there was no symbol, only a slash mark that would be used to show a missing-nin status. Going up to the gate, the person was stopped by Kotetsu.

"What is your purpose coming to Konoha?" Kotetsu asked.

"I wish to speak to the Hokage about having my village's genin participating in the upcoming Chunin Exams in Konoha." The person said in a deep masculine voice.

"Alright then. Just out of curiosity, what village?" Izumo asked.

The hooded man simply chuckled. "Shinigamigakure."

011001010110111001100100

Well, that's the end of chapter 3!

I've been cranking out chapters like crazy… I must really love you all!

But really. I won't be putting out chapters at this rate usually. I'm just getting the story started strong.

So, new information in the chapter! Seems pretty interesting, I hope! And yes, Danzo is no longer a problem. I do not like him. So he's dead. DEAD.

Hm. But please! More reading, more reviews, favorites, alerts, I luv them all! Thank you for enjoying my story so far though!

~Dark


	4. A Reunion for the Ages

_Chapter Four_

_A Reunion for the Ages_

"Shinigamigakure?" Izumo and Kotetsu both gaped as the person walked through the gate, looking at eachother.

"I can see this going downhill." Izumo sighed, shaking his head.

"Hey sensei! _Sensei!_ Wait up!" Another voice shouted, making Izumo and Kotetsu look back towards the entrance to Konoha. They saw three cloaked figures dashing towards the gate, all wearing white and hoods.

"Gaki, slow down! Man, he probably just went through!" One of the cloaked figures said, who was the tallest of the three.

"Yeah, listen to the bastard!" The medium one spoke. You could almost hear the pout from the smallest.

"Oh please, it's been years since I've been here! I wanna see Nee-san!" The small one whined. As the group approached Izumo and Kotetsu, the tallest one spoke.

"Hey, did a man in a black cloak from Shinigamigakure pass through here?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah. He was heading to Hokage Tower." Kotetsu replied.

"Thanks! We'll see you later, don't get in any trouble Kotetsu!" The medium one said, and all three from Shinigamigakure Shunshin'd, leaving the two gate guards gaping yet again.

"How did he know my name?" Kotetsu asked.

"Well one of them said they'd been to Konoha before. Maybe you met them then?" Izumo asked. Suddenly, the two went silent, looking towards the Hokage Tower, then out at the forest.

"You just realized it too, didn't you?" Izumo asked.

"The first man was the Zetsumeikage. We need to get a message to Kakashi!" Kotetsu shouted. Biting his finger, Kotetsu went through a series of handseals.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu! (Summoning Technique!)" A falcon appeared in front of Kotetsu.

"Glad I got the Falcon Summoning Contract on my last mission. Now, can you find Kakashi Hatake? He needs to hear this; The Shodaime Zetsumeikage is in Konoha!" Kotetsu looked at the falcon nodded, speeding off.

"Let's hope that the falcon gets to him quickly."

The group of three in white cloaks quickly caught up to the Zetsumeikage, about halfway to Hokage Tower. They were getting stares from the villagers, who had heard rumors of the village.

"Zetsumeikage-sama, even if it's nice to be back, is it really the best idea to have our village's first Chunin Exams in Konoha?" The tallest one asked.

"Well with all of you at full strength, I figured it would be a good opportunity to reveal Shinigamigakure to everyone else. Besides, at this point we've already been contacted by Akatsuki. We need every edge we can get." The man replied.

"Well, should we hide our Kekkei Genkai?" The smallest one questioned.

"For as long as you can. But if you face a tough opponent, feel free to use them." The Zetsumeikage nodded. "That'll wake Konoha up pretty quickly."

"Hokage-sama, there is a group here to see you." Shizune said, looking inside the Hokage's Office.

As usual, she wasn't surprised at the sight. Tsunade had quite a few sake bottles lying around, but not nearly as many as usual. She was in the middle of paperwork, well, her Shadow Clones were. The real Tsunade was at another desk, testing a jutsu.

"Alright, send them in. Who are they?" Tsunade asked, not lifting her head from the jutsu.

"The Zetsumeikage and his genin squad. They want to participate in the Chunin Exams." Shizune said. If Tsunade had looked up, she would have seen how pale Shizune was.

"Alright, alright." Tsunade murmured. She kept working for another few seconds.

"…?"

"_**WHAT?**_"

"_**WHAT?**_"

"Well, I guess Tsunade hasn't changed a bit." The Zetsumeikage sweat-dropped, as did the rest of the team.

Shizune exited the office, moving out of their way.

"Hokage-sama will see you now." Shizune said. The group entered the office, seeing a raging Tsunade.

"You son of a bitch, how dare you show your face here!" Tsunade shouted, stomping up to the Zetsumeikage. "I ought to rip you apart and have Shizune explain to you why it wouldn't be medically possible to stitch all the pieces back together!"

"Maa maa Tsunade-hime, relax. You haven't changed a bit, have you?" The Zetsumeikage said nervously, putting a hand behind his head.

"Do I know you?" Tsunade asked, glaring suspiciously.

"Yup." The Zetsumeikage removed his hood, stunning Tsunade. "Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage, and post-mortem, the Shodaime Zetsumeikage, at your service."

Tsunade instantly felt herself collapse to her knees, not even noticing the tears pouring from her face.

"Minato? You're alive?" Tsunade gasped.

"Tsunade, didn't you hear me? I said post-mortem. I'm still dead." Minato replied. Tsunade's eyes went wide.

"But then… you couldn't…" Tsunade mumbled.

"Minato-sensei?" The short, white-cloaked male spoke up. "May I?"

"Go ahead." Minato sighed, moving out of the way.

"Nee-san!" The small one ran at Tsunade, jumping and hugging her. "I missed you so much!" The boy sobbed, his hood falling off.

Tsunade recognized him instantly.

"Nawaki…" Tsunade smiled widely, hugging her little brother tight. "You're here… I missed you!"

The Konoha 10 and their sensei's were walking along a large path, taking their time to enjoy the scenery.

"This is a beautiful forest my youthful friends!" Lee exclaimed, getting sweat-drops from everyone except Gai.

"Yes it is! The Flames of Youth burn brightly in the spirits of the forest!" Maito Gai shouted.

"Lee! Gai-sensei! Shut up already!" Tenten shouted.

"And here we go again…" Neji sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Oh relax everyone. It's not like we get to do this often-" Sakura was interrupted by a screech, and everyone quickly got into taijutsu stances, not knowing if there was an enemy.

A hawk descended to Kakashi, and everyone relaxed.

"It's a messenger from Kotetsu." Kakashi said, letting the bird land on his arm.

"Kakashi-san, Kotetsu-sama has a message for you. You need to return to Konoha immediately, the Zetsumeikage is going to meet the Hokage." Everyone stopped at that, and rage began to boil up.

"He had just had a guard put Itachi in a coma, now he has the balls to go after the Hokage? Everyone, double-time to Konoha!" Kakashi shouted.

"Hai!" The group vanished, rushing towards their village.

"Alright, we're all signed up for the exams! That took longer than I had hoped…" The medium cloaked figure said.

"Could have been worse." The tall one spoke, shrugging. "It's what happens when an entirely new village has to register. Paperwork, bah."

"Oh, you're complaining? I'm the Kage here!" Minato said, his and Nawaki's hoods up again. Approaching the middle of the village, they all sensed a multitude of high-chakra levels coming their way.

"Oh, crap. I recognize all of them." The medium-hooded one spoke.

"Who is it?" Nawaki asked.

"The rest of the Konoha 12, and their sensei's. I thought they left on vacation!"

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." The tall one sighed, as they were surrounded by the Konoha 10 along with Kakashi, Kurenai, Gai, and Asuma.

"Zetsumeikage and Shinigamikagure shinobi. You are charged with theft of a body, and assaulting a Konoha-nin on our territory. Surrender peacefully or we will use force." Kakashi spoke firmly. Quickly, the four Shinigami-nin got back-to-back.

"Reveal time?" Minato asked.

"Reveal time." The other three replied.

Nawaki rushed first, going through handseals. "Wood Release: Multiple Battering Rams Technique!" Wood columns burst out of the ground, shooting towards Team Gai. Tenten was hit by one, while Neji, Gai, and Lee dodged.

The tall cloaked figure was the next one to rush. "Blaze Release: Hell Inferno Technique!" A pillar of searing flames appearing beneath Team 8. Shino seemed to get annihilated, but disintegrated into a bug clone. Hinata jumped from the flames with a Water Sphere Shield technique surrounding her and Kurenai, while Kiba used Tsuuga to get out.

The medium one then took his shot. "Aether Release: Spiraling Bullet!" In a process that looked very similar to a Rasengan, an oval of chakra seemed to phase into existence, shooting at Team 10. More then seemed to appear next to the original. Choji was hit hard, and sent flying back. Ino avoided the attack, but only because of Shikamaru's Kage Mane no Jutsu forcing her out of the way with him. Asuma channeled Wind Chakra into his trench knives, and attempted to block the attack. He tried to gauge the power, but could only hold it for a moment before getting blown back.

Lastly, Minato was up. "Flying Thunder God Combo!" Disappearing in a flash of yellow light, Minato appeared behind Sakura, knocking her into the air and then doing the same to Kakashi. In midair, he hit both with a Rasengan, sending them flying down to earth. Hitting the ground, they were both knocked out.

"Take out your opponents! Things are about to get messy!"

_Nawaki v. Team Gai_

Nawaki panted as he avoided another attack from Gai and Lee, who were working perfectly together.

"Wood Release: Spike Shot Technique!" Wooden spikes rose from the ground and shot at Neji.

"Hakkesho Kaiten!" Neji shouted, using his ultimate defense.

"Wait a moment! How are you using the Shodaime's Wood Release?" Gai shouted.

"I'll tell you if you beat me!" Nawaki responded. "Wood Release Secret Technique: Nativity World Armor!" Wood shot up from the ground and surrounded Nawaki, quickly covering him. In moments, he was completely covered in a thick black wood armor. "Now, take this!" He shouted, vanishing.

Lee didn't even see it coming as he was sent flying from a punch to the back of the head. Lee was out before he hit the ground.

"Lee!" Neji shouted.

_Tall Cloak v. Team 8_

"Blaze Release: Shield of Amaterasu!" The cloaked figure shouted. As Kiba tried a Gatsuuga with Akamaru, he hit the shield, the black flames repelling him and setting his clothes on fire. The flames vanished quickly, but they couldn't tell why.

"Ninja Art: Insect Pit Technique!" Shino shouted. The ground collapsed from under the cloaked man, and he fell over 50 feet, into a pit filled with Shino's insects.

"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!" The man shouted, torching all of the bugs in the pit. He rushed up the side of the pit, and came face-to-face with Kurenai.

"Demonic Illusion: Hell's Eternal Torment." She murmured. The cloaked figure seemed to freeze for the moment, before punching Kurenai hard, knocking her out.

"How did he see through that so quickly?" Kiba shouted.

"I don't know! Now hold on!" Hinata exclaimed. "Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists!" She shouted, the chakra lion heads engulfing her hands, her Byakugan blazing. She rushed towards the cloaked man, who ran through handseals, taking out a katana.

"Chidori Current!"

Hinata felt a slight jolt, nothing painful though, and slumped down to the dirt.

_Medium Cloak v. Team 10_

The medium cloaked man looked at his opponents. Only Shikamaru and Ino were still standing.

"Ninja Art: Shadow Imitation Technique!" Shikamaru shouted, his shadow racing towards the cloaked man.

"Water Release: White Rapids Technique!" Ino shouted. Water rushed out from a nearby well and seemed to pick up speed as it went. It went right at the cloaked man and hit.

"Yes!" Ino shouted. Her smiled vanished just as soon as the shadow clone did though.

"Shadow Clone? But that's a Konoha Forbidden Technique!" Shikamaru gasped, a voice coming from behind him.

"Aether Release: Millennium Vortex!" Shikamaru and Ino felt themselves getting pulled towards each other, seeming to spin around a singular point in the air before slamming together. Ino was knocked out, but Shikamaru stayed up, clutching his side where Ino had hit.

"Dammit… I've never heard of Aether Release before, I don't know what it can do. So troublesome…" Shikamaru murmured, noticing the cloaked man standing about 30 meters in front of him.

"Well Shika, you should recognized this element!" The man said, running through handseals.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

Shikamaru never even felt himself hit the ground.

_Minato v. Team 7_

Kakashi groaned as he got to his feet, looking to his right. Sakura was still out cold, so he was on his own. Lifting his hitai-ate, Kakashi revealed his Mangekyo Sharingan.

"Kamui!" Kakashi focused on Minato's arm, and the black hole opened up at Minato's shoulder. Recognizing the risk, he quickly used Hiraishin, losing his left arm in the process.

When Minato reappeared, Kakashi smirked.

"Not so strong missing an arm, eh Zetsumeikage?" Kakashi taunted. Minato did a few one-handed handseals.

"Eternal Rejuvenation!" Moments after, a fully-functioning arm burst from his shoulder. Quickly testing his arm, Minato nodded. "There we go! Now, you were saying, Kakashi? I didn't remember you being so arrogant. Are you just angry I took one of the bodies of your students? Or that I had Kyuubi-san kill another of your students?"

As soon as he said that, everyone seemed to stop. Everyone fighting Shinigamigakure's team were lost for words. They couldn't comprehend that this was the man who controlled the Kyuubi.

"_You bastard! That's why you took Naruto's body, so you could extract the Kyuubi! __**What the fuck is wrong with you?**_" Kakashi screamed, and he suddenly felt his eye burning. "GAH!" Blood leaked out from Kakashi's left eye, along with his right as it began to turn red. Minato recognized what was happening. All of Kakashi's feelings were influencing the Mangekyo to increase in strength, and the only way it could was to give his other eye the Sharingan. Rushing towards Kakashi, Minato did a few quick handseals.

"Sealing Technique: Genetic Recombination Seal!" Placing his hand on Kakashi's head, black lines rushed from where Minato was touching, and dug into Kakashi's eyes, creating a seal around his left eye's Mangekyo design and his right eye's new three-tomoe design. Less than a second afterward, the Sharingan designs vanished, but could still be accessed by Kakashi.

"There we go. Forcing an eye to undergo a genetic change, then mature from an infant Sharingan to a full Mangekyo in seconds could have killed Kakashi." Minato said as his student slumped over, unconscious again.

Tsunade came into view as Kakashi fell to the ground, and looked on the scene in horror.

"Tsunade, calm down! They attacked us, but none of them are dead! No serious injuries!" Minato said, sighing.

"Oh, that makes _everything_ better." Tsunade mocked, rolling her eyes. "ANBU!"

A moment later, a dozen ANBU appeared around her.

"Take our shinobi to the hospital, let me deal with the Zetsumeikage." She ordered. The ANBU nodded, taking the conscious and unconscious Konoha-nin to Shizune at the Konoha Hospital.

"Now, we need to set the story straight, at least with them." Tsunade said, turning to Minato and his group.

"Maa maa, fine Tsunade-hime. Have everyone come to your office tomorrow morning at 9AM, and we'll explain everything then." Minato said, him and his group using Shunshin to leave.

Tsunade looked at where the group had been, and rolled her eyes.

"Just great…"

As Minato, Nawaki, and the two other cloaked men entered Tsunade's office, everyone they expected to be there was. Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, Gai, and Teams 7, 8, 9, and 10. Minato led his group up to Tsunade's desk, with Minato and the medium cloaked figure standing on one side, Nawaki and the tall cloaked figure on the other.

"Hokage-sama, what are these four doing here?" Asuma asked, fairly curious, as the genin and Shikamaru all were. The Jounin were all simply furious, and Kakashi, for once, didn't have his hitai-ate over his eye.

"Well, first of all, everything you see and hear in here is an Triple S-class secret. Revealing any of it carries a penalty of torture, then death." Tsunade started, nodding as he saw the teams turn white.

"Alright, good to see I got the message across. Next, these four plan to reveal their identities to all of you. So far, I know who the Zetsumeikage and the shortest cloaked person are. They'll reveal themselves one by one. And you all have to wait and hold back your reactions until they're finished." Tsunade said, sighing.

"Zetsumeikage, you have the floor."

"Thank you, Tsunade." He said, dropping his voice-altering genjutsu. "Alright then. All of you should recognize me, if not know me." Minato said, dropping his hood. He could see the eyes of everyone in front of him widen.

"When I died sealing the Kyuubi, I was sent into the Shinigami's stomach. Now, using a loophole I created in the sealing technique, I got out of the shinigami, but stayed dead. Using another sealing technique, I created a portal between the Elemental Nations and the Afterlife, and created Shinigamigakure." Minato finished.

Before anyone could ask a question, Nawaki dropped his hood.

"I am Nawaki Senju, Tsunade's little brother. I died years ago from an explosive during war. I can currently use my grandfather's Mokuton (Wood Release) techniques, which my grandfather taught me how to use." Nawaki said quickly, smiling. Next, the tallest removed his hood.

"Good to see you all again. My name is Sasuke Uchiha, and I can use the Pure Mangekyo Sharingan, which I won't tell you how I got, and the Blaze Release Kekkei Genkai. You all saw how I died, from the Kyuubi, who is actually a good friend of mine now. Also, my Cursed Seal is gone." Sasuke added, looking about as serious as ever.

"So does that mean…?" Kakashi murmured as the last cloaked figure removed his hood.

"Hehe, hey guys! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I have the Aether Release Kekkei Tota, along with the Storm Release, Ice Release, and the Swift Release Kekkei Genkais since I have three Chakra Natures. Wind, Water, and Lightning." Naruto smiled, crossing his arms. He, and the others in his group, waited for a response from the others.

They all fainted.

"Oh are you kidding me! Did they all turn into Hinata while we were gone?" Naruto exclaimed, while Minato, Sasuke, and Nawaki sweat-dropped.

"Do you have a three?"

"Go fish, Nawaki. Do you have a Jack?"

"Go fish, dobe."

"Fuck you , Sasuke. Kyuubi, do you have a seven."

"You've got to be kidding me. Of course you get one from me."

This was the scene that the teams woke up to. Naruto, Nawaki, Sasuke, and the Kyuubi in human form were all playing Go Fish, while Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Minato were playing Poker.

"Jiraiya-sama? When did you get here?" Kakashi asked, getting to his feet.

"About ten minutes ago. By the way, nice job fainting like a girl."

"Shut up, Jiraiya." Kakashi murmured, turning to the other group. He looked at Naruto, then Sasuke, then the Kyuubi, then at Minato.

"Okay. I think it's fair to say that I'm insane." Kakashi nodded sagely.

"Ugh…"

"Was that all a dream…?"

"Troublesome…"

The others got to their feet, and looked at Naruto and Sasuke, who suddenly got horrified looks on their faces.

"Run, teme?"

"Run, dobe."

Both of them dashed out of the office when the group tried to hug them

"Ah, to be young and full of energy again…" Jiraiya sighed.

"Come back here, pussies! You just ran because you were losing!" Kyuubi shouted, growling.

"You have enough energy if you insist on never using the door." Tsunade mentioned, rolling her eyes.

"Only for you and your bosom, Tsunade-hime."

As Jiraiya flew over the village from a chakra-enhanced punch, the villagers could faintly hear 'It was worth it' before he hit the ground.

"So, how long do you think it'll take until Orochi-teme finds out we're back in the village?" Naruto asked, his hood back up so the villagers wouldn't have a reason to cause a riot.

"He'll probably find out during the second exam. That's my guess." Sasuke replied, slurping up a bit of ramen.

"How long until Itachi finds out?" Naruto then asked, finishing another bowl of ramen.

Sasuke promptly sputtered and dropped his bowl.

"Shit, Itachi! He'll probably think I put him in the Tsukuyomi! Remind me to kill Shisui for doing it, and Obito for planning it." Sasuke grumbled, sighing. "But he'll probably find out in the next few days. Before the first test."

"Well, don't forget that after the Chunin exams, we'll need to go after Akatsuki and Orochimaru." Naruto reminded.

"I know, I know! We went over the plan a lot already, dobe! You shouldn't-"

"Hello, little brother." Naruto and Sasuke's blood went cold. Sasuke activated his Pure Mangekyo, turning to look at Itachi.

"So, that's your Mangekyo. Not the same as the one that put me in a coma. Glad to see you among the living again." Itachi said. He stood behind the two, mask off, in standard Jounin gear. Taking a seat next to Sasuke, he smiled.

"And since you're not trying to kill me, I assume you know the truth." Itachi added.

"Sandaime told me. And I met with otou-san, he told me about how he had planned a coup. It was a lot to take in at first, but I got used to it." Sasuke said, turning off his Sharingan.

"And Naruto-kun, still a Jinchuuriki?" Itachi asked.

"Sort of. Makoto-san is still-"

"Makoto?"

"Kyuubi's real name. Kyuubi is just a title. But still. Makoto-san is still tied to me through the seal, but voluntarily. He stays 'cause me and him are friends now." Naruto replied.

"…only you, Naruto, could make friends with a Bijuu."

011001010110111001100100

Alright, cool! There's chapter 4. This is gonna be my semi-regular schedule, once a week. The rapid-fire three chapters was just that once.

But yeah, major reveal! Next chapter will start the Chunin Exams.

And if you're curious. Wind + Water = Ice, Water + Lightning = Storm, and I'm having Wind + Lightning = Swift Release, along with the Wind + Water + Lightning = Aether Release Kekkei Tota. Minato has the Swift Release, but I didn't mention that.

Alright, read and review. This is my longest chapter yet at about 3.5k words! I wanted about 5k, but I decided 3.5k is good for now.

Cya!

~Dark


	5. Troubling Targets

_Chapter Five_

_Troubling Targets_

_**Oh, apparently I should note this here. Some characters will be OOC since I'm not trying to make them perfectly like their manga counterparts. For example, Hinata will not be a whiny bitch. Itachi will show what heart he has. Etc.**_

_**And sorry this took so long. Finals have started, but they're done this Friday. More time for me!**_

_**Oh, and I don't own Naruto. Been forgetting that.**_

"So, Sasuke, did you want to meet your niece before the Chunin Exams?" Itachi asked out of the blue, as he and Sasuke walked into the Uchiha District.

Itachi had never heard a face-vault. He'd heard the impact of hitting the ground, but not the actual motion. Until now.

"Uh, are you alright, Sasuke?" Itachi asked, picking up his brother from the ground.

"You- Who would even- I don't even know- WHAT?" Sasuke sputtered out, glaring at his brother. "Nii-san, I respectfully warn you that I will castrate you if you keep throwing curveballs like this. I have a niece? Who in Kami's name would get in bed with you?" Sasuke asked. Itachi sighed, sweat-dropping.

"Shizune-chan." Itachi replied. Sasuke took a few moments to recall anyone with that name.

"The Hokage's assistant?" He asked, taking a shot in the dark.

"The very one." Itachi nodded.

"Alright, cheers to you. Now let me meet the kid." Sasuke finally said after a few minutes. "Name?"

"Mikoto." Itachi said, glaring a bit. "She's with Shizune-chan at the moment. Come along, little brother."

_Scene Change_

Shizune sat in her chair, holding Mikoto in her arms as she let her child nap. Hearing a light knock, she smiled.

"Come on in, 'Tachi-kun." She said.

"When the door opened, she was surprised to not only see her husband, but Sasuke as well.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun! I was wondering when you'd come to see Mikoto! Took you long enough." Shizune said, with her little jab at the end. Itachi smiled and walked over, giving Mikoto a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Shizune-chan, I need to go do my ANBU scouting now. I'll be back in a few hours." Itachi said, gathering his ANBU gear.

"Alright 'Tachi-kun. Don't forget to pick up some milk." Shizune replied, making Itachi sweat-drop as he left.

Sasuke took the opportunity to get up close with his niece, looking over her features. She had a bit of the dark black hair he saw in Shizune, with the lithe figure of Itachi.

"She'll be beautiful when she grows up…" Sasuke murmured, sighing.

"She will be. You'll have to promise to visit often, okay Sasuke-kun?" Shizune asked.

This tore Sasuke up inside. But Shizune didn't know the deal that had been made, no one outside of Shinigamigakure knew. He didn't want Mikoto dragged into it.

"…I'll try to." Sasuke smiled, lying through his teeth. This was one time he hated to lie. He wanted to be there to see his niece grow up, to spoil her with gifts, to watch her and his brother recreate the Uchiha clan from its ashes.

"Good, good! Now, please go. Mikoto needs to be fed, and Kami help you if you saw my breasts." Shizune mentioned, rather darkly at the end.

"I'll… try to keep that in mind."

_Scene Change_

Sasuke sighed as he sat on a bench outside of Training Ground Seven. He was still reminiscing about his niece and brother. He wished that he had found happiness like that when he was still alive. Maybe he shouldn't have spurned Sakura so often…

"Seems like you're down in the dumps, cousin. Can we help?" Sasuke looked at the cloaked figures on either side of him.

"Good luck with that." Sasuke murmured. The two removed their hoods, revealing Shisui Uchiha and Obito Uchiha, both in perfect condition.

"What's wrong, Sasuke?" Shisui asked.

"Itachi has a daughter. One we'll never get to see when this is over. Once we finish with Orochimaru and Akatsuki, balance will be restored… and we'll be stuck in Shinigamigakure forever. We'll miss out on the chance to see Itachi's daughter grow up and recreate the clan where my father destroyed it." Sasuke put his head in his palm.

"I just… it feels so unfair." Sasuke murmured.

"I understand, Sasuke. But think of it this way." Shisui began, putting an arm around Sasuke.

"With our sacrifice, Itachi's little girl will grow up in a peaceful world. She'll be safe for her entire life, and be happy the whole time. Itachi will be telling her stories about her uncle Sasuke and her dad's best friend Shisui for years to come." Shisui said, smiling.

"Hey, what about me?" Obito asked, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, what about you, Obito? You're just a prankster." Shusui said, getting Obito's nerves rattled.

"Hey, I'm the one who discovered the Pure Mangekyo! I don't think _just a prankster_ could pull that off!"

"True, true… but still. This is about Sasuke's mid-life crisis, not yours." Shisui mentioned.

"I'm not having a goddamn mid-life crisis!" Sasuke shouted.

"Then stop being a pansy and get over yourself!" Shisui shouted abruptly. "Neither your niece nor your brother need to have anything else put on their plate as it is. You need to keep a cool head, otherwise you might spill about the deal and we can't have that! Besides, you should be happy to know that Itachi cares so much about you that he'll never stop telling his daughter about you. You won't be forgotten by the rebuilt Uchiha's, you'll be remembered as the catalyst for what created them! Do you think Itachi would have come back, settled down, and had a kid if you hadn't died?" Shisui asked, glaring.

Sasuke was surprised. He'd never heard Shisui raise his voice. Never. Never ever.

"I… guess. I can see where you're coming from." Sasuke murmured, his shoulders dropping. "Fine. But you suck at inspirational speeches." He added.

"Yup!" Shusui said, in a much-too-chipper tone.

"You both suck. I'm the one who's best at speeches." Obito murmured.

"Screw you." Sasuke and Shisui replied, grinning.

_Scene Change_

Tsunade was about ready to pull her hair out. She had just received a summons from the Civilian and Shinobi Councils. She could understand why the Shinobi Council wanted to speak to her, but not those arrogant civilians.

"This is one time I'm glad that Danzo is gone… Koharu and Homura are still around though. Damn." She murmured, taking a swig of her sake.

"And they're calling for Minato as well. If they find out who he is, they will demand to find out who the members of his team are… this is so-!"

"Troublesome?" Shikaku Nara slipped in, standing in the doorway to Tsunade's office.

"Oh, hello Shikaku. How are you handling the knowledge that one of your dead friends is back?" Tsunade questioned grimly.

"It was a surprise at first. I can understand the need for secrecy. So are you going to go to the meeting they've scheduled?" He asked curiously.

"I have to; otherwise they'll think of something that will be more trouble than it's worth. I just need to talk to Minato about this." Tsunade answered, sighing dismissively. "Can you find him and bring him here, Shikaku?" She asked.

"Sure, sure." Shikaku waved her off, leaving the room.

_Scene Change_

Minato stood in the clearing of Training Ground 7, and on the opposite side of the field was Naruto, who was running through a set of handsigns.

"Zetsumeikage-sama!" A voice exclaimed. Minato looked over and Naruto stopped his handseals, looking at who spoke.

"Ah, Shikaku-san. Is there something you require?" Minato asked, grinning.

"Oh shove it, Minato." Shikaku spoke as he got up close. Sighing, he rolled his eyes.

"Tsunade wants to talk to you about something. I heard her mention the council." Shikaku noted, causing Minato to put his hand to his forehead, shaking his head lightly.

"Those annoying council-members will get themselves killed with their greed someday, I guarantee it." Minato murmured. Naruto moved next to his father, cocking his head.

"Is this the same Council that was petitioning for my death after the Kyuubi was sealed?" Naruto asked. Shikaku nodded in the affirmative.

"Hell, haven't those old prunes died yet? I'd hoped they had so that next time I took a trip to Hell to see Shinigami-jiji, I would have been able to help torture them… damn!" The boy whined. Minato simply glared.

"Well Naruto, since you seem so intent on being verbal about this, what do you think I should do about this?" Minato asked in his best 'Angry-Kage' tone.

"Personally? I'd rather you go to the meeting, reveal us, scare the ever-living shit out of them, then kill them." Naruto replied, chuckling. "Professionally thought, I'd just suggest going to the meeting and doing whatever it took to reveal as little as possible." He added.

That actually got Minato thinking. He knew that he wanted to avoid having the majority of Konoha know just who he and he team were. Scare tactics would probably be the best way to go about stopping questions.

_So what would be the best scare tactic?_

"Ahh, there we go. Naruto, do you think Makoto would be willing to help?" Minato asked. Naruto cocked his head for a moment, trying to figure out why he'd want the Nine-Tailed Fox's help with-

"Oh. Yup, gimme a second. Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted, running through the handseals.

With a puff of smoke, the Kyuubi in human form stood next to Naruto, hidden in a grey cloak.

"Makoto-san, you heard it all?" Minato asked.

"Of course, Minato. I'm more than willing to help." He replied, giving a toothy grin. "However, I do believe it would be best to reveal yourself. Not Naruto, Nawaki, or Sasuke though." He added.

"Alright. I think I know what you have in mind."

_Scene Change_

Tsunade walked into the Council Chamber, followed by Jiraiya and Shizune. The Civilian Council and the Shinobi Council were already there, along with Koharu and Homura.

"Tsunade, where is the Zetsumeikage?" Hiashi Hyuuga asked, obviously angry. At Tsunade or the Zetsumeikage, she couldn't tell.

"Yes, where is he? He did receive our summons, correct?" Koharu asked.

"Yes, I personally delivered the summons to him." Shikaku spoke out. Homura nodded.

"Alright then. I assume we can expect them soon-"

"Maa maa, we're here. Relax." Minato said, walking into the chamber. Narute, Sasuke, Nawaki, and Makoto/Kyuubi followed him, with all five of them cloaked and hooded.

"Ahh, Zetsumeikage-sama, good of you to join us." Tsume Inuzuka spoke. "We were just wondering what had held you up."

"Ahh, my group and I just got lost on the road of life." He said, making everyone in the room sweat-drop.

"Kakashi is apparently famous for more than his skills, apparently." Chouza Akimichi said, sighing.

"Actually, no. I heard those excuses from Obito Uchiha years ago when he was still alive." Minato said, removing his hood.

You could cut the tension in the room with a butterknife.

"_**Imposter!**_" Hiashi shouted, dashing towards Minato. "8 Trigrams: Empty-" Hiashi wasn't able to finish what he was saying, as Minato disappeared in a yellow flash with Hiraishin, appearing behind the Hyuuga clan head and jamming his elbow into the Hyuuga's back.

Hiashi fell to the floor, groaning in pain, as the rest of the Councils sat in amazement.

"Who else can do the Hiraishin? Tell me!" Minato demanded, glaring at the Council Members.

"Y-Yondaime-sama?" Inoichi gasped, amazed to see his dead friend walking.

"Yes Inoichi. Your precious Yondaime is also the Shodaime Zetsumeikage." Minato said, glaring at the man. He turned to look at the other council members, who were all in shock.

"T-this is a joyous occasion! Our Yondaime Hokage has returned!" One of the civilians shouted. Minato spat at that.

"Joyous? You act as if I plan to reclaim my title as Hokage." Minato mocked.

"You don't?" Koharu asked, confused.

"Of course not. Why would I lead the village that ostracized and hated my own son for something he had no control over? For a place that attempted to kill him an innumerable amount of times?" Minato asked.

This led the entire council to go '_Oh shit_' in realization. They had been hoping he wouldn't bring that up.

"But he was a demon! Yondaime, your son died as soon as the demon was sealed! The Kyuubi just wore his skin!" A random council member shouted.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Wear his skin? Naruto was a good friend of mine." Makoto said, removing his hood.

The room went silent. The Shinobi Council was scared horribly from the killing intent that was being released, with the civilians already unconscious.

"K-Kyuubi!" Hiashi gasped, barely awake from the previous strike from Minato.

"Makoto." The demon fox corrected, still in his human form.

"Pardon?" Tsume asked, startled.

"Makoto Tsukino. That's my name. Kyuubi no Yoko is just a title." He clarified.

"So… you really are the Kyuubi? Why are you with Yondaime-sama?" Shibi Aburame asked.

"Because I am one of his advisors. Along with Hashirama-dono, Tobirama-dono, and Hiruzen-dono." Kyuubi noted.

"All of the previous Hokages?" Tsunade shouted, speaking up for the first time. "Grandfather…? Granduncle…?" She murmured, tears forming in her eyes.

"It is alright, Tsunade-dono. They know of your achievements, and watch over you. They wished for me to tell you how proud they are of you." Makoto said, smiling.

At this point, Tsunade broke down in tears due to the words of a representative of Shinigamigakure for the second time that week.

"Well, while we give Tsunade some time to recover, why did you want to meet with us?" Minato asked, turning to the council.

"We-we wanted to see who the Zetsumeikage was… and get information of the village." Koharu said.

"Well, it seems we have enough information as it is, eh?" Someone else spoke. From the back of the room, Itachi Uchiha appeared from the shadows.

"Ah, Itachi-kun. It's good to see you again. Representative of the Uchiha clan?" Minato asked, getting a nod from Itachi.

"Well all's well that ends well, but we aren't finished here." Homura said, glaring at Minato. "We demand that you return to Konoha permanently."

"On one condition." He replied. At that point, the clan heads were all amazed. He was willing to abandon his new village? "You must execute everyone who treated my son as a pariah."

"Ah, there we go. Got worried for a second." Makoto joked.

"That is a ridiculous demand! We'd lose almost all of Konoha's population!" Tsume shouted.

"That is the point of the demand! Was this village so pathetic that so few people could recognize the difference between the jail and the prisoner?" Minato shouted.

"Zetsumeikage-sama?" Someone asked, getting Minato's attention. He noticed it was Sakura Haruno's father on the civilian council.

"Yes?" Minato replied.

"You've been mentioning that you've had contact with the dead, due to your own predicament. Could you, by chance, be able to find Sasuke Uchiha, your son, and your wife in the afterlife as you have the previous Hokages?" He asked. Everyone gaped at this, for not having thought of such a solution.

"I was beginning to think they were all idiots." Sasuke said suddenly.

"Ah, the guy only figured it out because Sakura still wants you, I bet." Naruto chided, chuckling.

"Who do you two think you are? No one gave you permission to speak, whelps." Koharu said, glaring at the two. Naruto and Sasuke looked at eachother and shrugged, removing their hoods. Seeing the shock, Naruto rolled his eyes.

"God, do all the old people in this council have a stick up their ass?"

**A/N:**

**Hey guys! So, this is chapter five. I'm getting along with this, slowly. I've gotten a whole load of new ideas during the study periods between final exams, and they'll make their way into this story! Thank goodness.**

**But- yes. From how this is going along, I'd assume this story will end up being 15 chapters long. Maybe 20 is you're all good. And please people. I want to know what you think about this story. What it's flaws are, what I'm doing well at, what you think it might need. Suggest things, talk to me about how you think the story's going, stuff like that. It gets my creative juices flowing. So, cya next time for chapter 6!**

**~Dark**


	6. When Things Begin

_Chapter Six_

_When Things Begin_

_Shinigamigakure_

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in the Zetsumeikage's office, working through paperwork with his Shadow Clones, having been asked to while Minato was gone. At the present time though, he was worried. He'd sent out a group consisting of Zabuza Momochi, Haku Momochi, Han (the previous Gobi Jinchuuriki), and Sakumo Hatake. They were supposed to have finished their assignment four days beforehand, but there had been no sign of them.

"Hiruzen!" The door to the office slammed open, revealing Hashirama Senju.

"What is it?" Hiruzen asked, wondering what would cause such a ruckus from Hashirama.

"Han just returned from his mission, alone. Something happened." The First Hokage said, scowling. "We need to evaluate his condition; he isn't healing like he should be."

"That can't be good…" Hiruzen sighed, getting up and using Shunshin.

He caught up with Hashirama at the base of the Zetsumeikage Tower, and rushed with him towards the gate.

As they approached the large Rashimon gate that connected their village to the Living World, Hiruzen saw Han, missing chunks of armor and flesh, surrounded by ANBU. He rushed over, seeing that the gashes and wounds were coated in a black sludge.

"Han! What happened?" Hiruzen asked, knowing that whatever it was, the enemy had to have been incredibly strong.

"We were… ambushed on our way back. Someone had been waiting for us… a few miles from the gate. I don't know how they found it. They seemed to only use Taijutsu, but whenever they landed a hit on someone that broke skin, the wounds… became infected almost instantly. Haku was the first one to be overwhelmed. The sludge on his wounds seemed to… dig into him, and spread."

_Flashback_

"Aaagh!" As the four Shinigamigakure shinobi fought, Haku suddenly collapsed to his knees, coughing up blood and black sludge. Zabuza knocked his opponent backwards, rushing to check on Haku.

"Haku! Haku! What's wrong?" Zabuza shook his adopted son, and laid him on the ground. He looked over Haku, and his veins seemed to bulge out, but were black.

"I'm… numb…" Haku croaked, grasping at Zabuza's hand.

"Shit! You should be healing! That goo crap looks like it's stopping the natural healing, what the hell is it?" Zabuza was in a frenzy, not even noticing Haku's eyes going dark, then becoming completely black. As such, he was caught completely off guard when Haku reached up, grabbing Zabuza's throat and hoisting him up into the air.

"W-what?" Zabuza gasped, letting out a scream as Haku leaned forward and dug his teeth into Zabuza's throat.

Han and Sakumo heard the scream, turning to look. They both gaped, and got back to back, knowing they'd now have two more enemies.

"Shit… this just got harder." Sakumo said, scowling. "Lightning Release: Storm Break!" Sakumo shouted, running through handseals. Lightning shot out from his hands, impaling two enemies that were coming towards him.

"Sakumo, have you ever seen anything like these before?" Han asked.

Their enemies looked similar to normal Shinobi, but had completely black eyes, claws, sharpened canine teeth, and pointed ears. There were 7 of the enemies, with 4 having Kumo hitai-ates, and 3 having Iwa hitai-ates.

"No, I don't recognize them. I know the hitai-ates, but I have a feeling they're not associated with their villages anymore." Sakumo said. Han nodded, and concentrated on the Gobi's residual chakra, forming a Jinchuuriki cloak. He began to gather chakra into his hands.

"Sakumo, hold them off! I'm going to use a Tailed Beast Bomb to decimate them all at once!" Han said, having learned to use the technique without going into Biju mode.

"Alright, I'll buy you as much times as I can!" Sakumo said, and saw Haku and Zabuza rush off into the forest.

"Shit! Zabuza and Haku left. We'll need to warn the village about this." Sakumo sighed, pulling out a tanto, pouring his lightning chakra into it. "Alright, let's dance!"

As Sakumo slashed his way through the remaining enemies, Han began to build up the Tailed Beast Bomb in his hands.

"Sakumo, it's ready! Get out of the-!"

"AaaaAAAAAGH!" Han was cut off as Sakumo screeched, and Han saw why. One of the enemies had put his arm right through Sakumo's stomach.

"Aghh… Han! Quickly! Before I end up like the others!" Sakumo shouted, the darkness appearing in his eyes.

"Alright! Tailed Beast Bomb!" Han shouted, releasing the attack. It hit right in front of the group of enemies, and in a blinding flash, the huge energy attack put a crater where it had hit, and all of the enemies, Sakumo included, were gone.

"Sakumo, my friend, I am sorry it had to end this way." Han sighed, his Jinchuuriki Cloak receding. "Now back to the-" Han stopped as he coughed up blood and felt a blinding pain in his side. He looked over, and saw something that horrified him. A black-eyed Sakumo had his teeth sunk into Han's side, but that wasn't the disturbing part. The entire left side of Sakumo was gone, and where his body was missing, a wriggling black mass was pushing out, reforming his body.

"S-Sakumo?" Han gasped, as his friend ripped Han's side out, his inside pouring out as he fell. Sakumo, almost completely regenerated, gave Han a grin and rushed off in the same direction that Haku and Zabuza had gone. Han coughed up more blood, and some black sludge, starting to crawl towards Shinigamigakure.

_Flashback End_

"Hiruzen, you need to kill me!" Han shouted. "Permanently! With Zabuza, Haku, and Sakumo already overwhelmed… we can't afford to have me lost as well!" Han groaned, clutching his side.

Hiruzen sighed, looking at Hashirama, who nodded back at him.

"W-wait, hold on. I have one last thing." Han choked out. "The sludge… it's similar to the Gobi's chakra! I think it may be related to the Biju!" Han gasped. "That's why it's taking so long to get to me!"

Hiruzen, hearing this information, nodded and ran through handseals.

"Han, thank you for your dedication to this village. Your death will be honorable." Hiruzen said. "Sealing Technique: Soul Destruction." Hiruzen murmured. A sealing circle appeared around Han, and glowed for a moment. From Han, his soul was pulled out of his body, but Hiruzen saw something was wrong. Multiple black threads seemed to connect Han's soul to his body, stopping the full removal.

Hiruzen's eyes went wide as the threads seemed to draw Han's soul back into his body.

"Oh no…"

_Konohagakure_

Sasuke, Naruto, and Nawaki rushed towards the Academy, almost late for the first exam.

"Dammit Sasuke, learn to get up on time!" Nawaki shouted, all three moving at high enough speeds so their conversation wasn't overheard.

"Oh shut it! At least I don't take half an hour to get dressed." Sasuke growled, and Naruto rolled his eyes.

"You're both acting like children. I shouldn't be saying anything though… but still! Let's just hurry up!" Naruto said, the Academy now in sight. They stopped at the entrance just as a team from Suna went in.

"Alright, let's go." Sasuke murmured, and the three of them walked in.

They knew almost immediately that something was off. The team from Suna seemed to have disappeared. Sasuke, quickly activating his Sharingan, saw through the genjutsu.

"Follow me." Sasuke said, getting nods in confirmation from Naruto and Nawaki. The three began to move through the Academy, but after a few minutes, Sasuke stopped.

"What's up?" Naruto asked.

"Right in front of us. Lots of traps." Sasuke said, noticing a second genjutsu.

"Hold on. It's a double layer genjutsu." He murmured, seeing through it. He saw that there weren't nearly as many traps as it seemed, but there were some in places that seemed open, and others where they seemed to be.

"You're up, Naruto. Disable them." Sasuke ordered. Naruto glared at the other boy but nodded, walking up next to Sasuke.

"Sealing Technique: Temporal Distortion." He murmured, using his chakra to draw the seal in midair. "Okay, the traps are frozen for a little while." Naruto said, sighing.

"Okay Naruto. Give me one of your Hiraishin kunais. I'll throw it to where you need to take us since I can see through the genjutsu. We don't want to break it since it'll trip up other participants." Sasuke said, taking the kunai that Naruto handed him. He quickly threw it to the other side of the trap field, nodding to Naruto.

"Hiraishin no jutsu!" He murmured, the three disappearing in a yellow flash. They appeared at the other end of the hallway, just past all of the traps. Naruto grabbed the kunai and canceled his seal, bringing the traps back into the normal flow of time.

"I'll never get used to that…" Nawaki murmured, his face green.

"It was only your third time." Naruto said, grinning. Nawaki shook his head and groaned.

"I'll hold it in somehow." He gasped, feeling his breakfast coming.

The trio noticed an open door up ahead, and walked over, going into the room. As they entered, the genjutsu seemed to drop. At this point, they were glad they still had their faces covered, because everyone else who had passed the exam was in that room.

"You're the guys from that new village." One Kiri shinobi murmured, and as soon as he said that, everyone else seemed to have their eyes on Naruto, Sasuke, and Nawaki.

"Why are you covering your faces?" A Suna nin asked, causing Sasuke to shrug.

"Because we can." He replied. As that occurred, Naruto noticed that Konohamaru was in the room with Moegi and Udon. He was looking forward to seeing what Konohamaru could do now.

"Alright, everyone listen up!" Someone shouted. All eyes turned to the doorway, as a female walked in.

"I'm Ino Yamanaka, and I'm the proctor for the second part of the exam! What you just went through was the first part, which is why only 24 teams are left! Let's see… 6 Konohagakure, 3 Sunagakure, 3 Kirgakurei, 2 Iwagakure, 3 Kumogakure, 2 Kusagakure, 2 Amegakure, 1 Takigakure, 1 Hoshigakure, and 1 Shinigamigakure. Interesting." Ino murmured, looking over the Shinigamigakure shinobi for a bit.

"Alright then. Part 2 of the Chunin Exams is Stealth and Information Gathering Exam. On the other side of the village, there is a large black tower." At this point, Ino put up a map on the board in the front of the room.

"There are multiple entrances and exits. 6 teams will go in at a time, each picked randomly. Each team starts with 10 points. They need at least one to leave. Also, you need one Heaven Scroll and one Earth Scroll. You lose 2 points if a trap is triggered. You get disqualified if someone dies, or if you're seen by tower guards. The objective is to get the two scrolls you need and get out. The time limit is 2 hours. If you're not out in time, you're disqualified." She said. "Any questions?"

"Do we start out with a scroll, or do we need to find both?" One of the Taki nin asked.

"You need to find both. You can fight in the tower, so other teams you find can steal from you though." She clarified.

"Now, have each team come up and get a single number. Pick randomly." She said, pulling out a box with slips of paper.

One by one, each team went up, grabbing a slip of paper from the box. Sasuke went up and grabbed a slip, which was colored Red and had the number 3 on it.

"Alright, everyone done? You should have a slip of one of four colors; Red, Yellow, Blue, and Green. Each color has a slip from the number One to Six. Every team with the same color will go in to the tower at the same time. First Green, followed by Blue, Red, and then Yellow." She said, looking over the teams. "Teams with Green Slips, go to the corresponding entrances at the tower. Each entrance will have a number. Find the number that matches your slip. Everyone else, follow me." Ino smirked and quickly used Shunshin.

_The Tower_

Sasuke looked back at Naruto and Nawaki, then back at the slip of paper.

"We're not up until the third round of Part 2. We have some time to rest." He said, sitting down. The people from the first round had already gone into the tower, which composed of 2 teams from Konoha, one team from Kumo, one team from Suna, the team from Taki, and a team from Iwa.

"So we have to deal with two teams from Konoha, one from Suna, one from Iwa, and an Ame team. Okay then." Naruto sighed. "And Konohamaru's team is in the tower right now." Looking around, he was fairly surprised when Gamakichi popped up in front of him.

"Kichi? What's going on?" Naruto asked, confused as to why Gamakichi would be there.

"I got a message from your pops. He said that he got a message from Shinigamigakure, and that something happened to Zabuza, Haku, Sakumo, and Han. Apparently, they're all on their way here, and the three advisors were injured." Naruto, Sasuke, and Nawaki all took a moment to gape.

"What? Dammit, this isn't good… they could get here in two days if they moved nonstop at their normal speeds. Thanks for the warning, Gamakichi." Naruto said, and the toad nodded, using reverse summoning to go home.

Naruto looked over at Sasuke and Nawaki, nodding at the two.

"We'll need to get ready for this. If those four aren't in control right now, things could go bad if we have to fight them. And I have a feeling we will have to. Our fights will just be stay alive, and get information. Got it?" Naruto seemed out of his own norm, showing the rare bit of leadership he had.

"Alright. Now, let's get ready for the Tower!"

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry it took so long for this to come out! Apparently, I'm not getting the time I thought I would. But still, chapter six! **

**I have a feeling where this is going, which is good. However, it's not easy to write, which is bad. I'd say anywhere from one to two weeks to write a chapter should be normal for me until this evens out. **

**Oh, and I've been thinking up ideas for other stories as well! I'll probably wait until this story is over until I post anything else, but once that happens, keep your eyes open!**

**Alright, I'm going now. Read and review as usual! Over 5k hits on this story so far! I love it!**

**-Dark**


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